motherhood where sleep is a rumor and laundry
is eternal and somehow we're supposed to be raising
tiny humans through it all we're here to laugh
at the chaos cry when necessary and remind you
that none of us actually know what we're doing
this is no manual a mom cast your mom friend
group chat but with microphones. Welcome back
to No Manual on MomCast. Today we're going to
just have a fun Christmas episode. It's Christmas
season. We're both super excited for Christmas.
And actually before we like really get started.
We will, after this episode, we're going to have
two weeks off. So we'll have the week of Christmas
off and the week of New Year's off for, you know,
we obviously want to celebrate with our families.
Yeah. You guys are probably celebrating with
your families and not listening to podcasts anyways.
I hope so. So, yeah, so we'll have two weeks
off, 22nd and the 30th of December. We will not
have episodes. But before that, we're just going
to talk Christmas and things we're excited for
this year, traditions, all that. Do you want
to start with your mom moment? I would love to.
So this last week, we went to the church while
Michael was doing youth group. And I posted this
on Instagram. So Colt was playing on the playground,
and he... It was great. We were having a great
time. He wanted me to go up in the playground
with him. So I did. Michael was holding Cruz.
And there's like these poles inside the playground.
They're like padded poles. It's like an old school
play place. Yeah. Yeah. And it wasn't even that
hard. But Colt like tripped into the pole and
just like hit his head on the pole. And like
the sound that it made, it was like a solid bonk.
Like a cartoon. Yeah. And I knew right when I
heard that, I was like, oh my gosh, he's going
to start bleeding. He's going to be bleeding.
And I look at him and he's not bleeding. And
then I look and he chipped his tooth so badly.
Like his front tooth is literally like half a
tooth now. And he like, he cried for maybe 30
seconds and then was totally fine. Of course.
Of course. And I like, I don't know why this
is affecting me so much, but like, it's just
his baby tooth. It's whatever. But the fact that
his smile changed in like an instant, it makes
me so sad because I'm like, I will never see
his smile again with his, his like beautiful
teeth. And now he's just got like this dagger
of a tooth that like it's so sharp right now.
I saw the picture. It looks gnarly. Yeah. And
it just like made me so sad. And I know it's
not that big of a deal. But so I ended up calling
the dentist because I was like, I. What are we
supposed to do? Yeah. Do we need to come like
get this like filed down? Do you need to look
at it? And it's not like bothering Colt at all.
Like because anytime. I don't know. Anytime you
have a cavity or whatever, it's like you take
a drink of water and it's like sensitive. Right.
So we were nervous about that. But he doesn't
seem to have any like weird sensations like that
or anything. And he's eating fine. The one thing
I'm really worried about is like if he falls
again and is like he like hits his tooth on his
lip. It's just going to break the whole tooth.
Yeah. Either break the tooth or cut his lip open
because of how sharp it is. And so I called the
dentist and the dentist was like, let's just
kind of like see what happens. Cause a lot of
the times, like the tooth ends up dying. So it's
going to turn like, yeah, you have to pull it
out. So I'm like, if we have to do that, he's
going to be two years old with no tooth. He's
probably not going to even get his adult tooth
until he's like six or seven. And then he's just
for years. I mean, it'll be super cute. It'll
be cute, but. gosh it I don't know why it's like
making me so sad and it's really not that big
of a deal he does not care at all but I do I
feel like I'm like when parent other parents
see my child and he smiles and he has just this
like chip tooth that they're gonna be like oh
they live in the trailer park and you know just
but it's not the case but I just I yeah I don't
know It makes me sad. I think once we were going
out to California this week and I'm like, I think
I will make a dentist appointment when we get
back to at least get it filed down a little bit.
Cause it is so sharp. That makes sense. Yeah.
So that's a fun moment. Yeah. And of course I
was blaming myself of like, of course. Yeah.
Why did we even go to youth group that night?
I shouldn't have let him play on the playground
for then. Like, yep. That's always how it goes.
Yep. How about you? Mine is that Zeta's going
through the worst sleep regression. So terrible.
It's so rough. I think she's learning a bunch
of things. So she, she's been like army crawling
for a while now, but she's finally just like
getting up on her knees and crawling. She's pulling
herself up. Actually, this is a side tangent,
but I'm going to say it anyways. She had her
nine month appointment and we like filled out
the questionnaire of her development and she
was doing great with everything except for gross
motor skills. And they're like, we expect that
she should be like pulling herself up and cruising
right now. Okay. And she's not. Um, and my doctor
was like, you know, we're not worried right now.
she's doing really great if by like 11 months
she's not doing these things call us because
we just want to make sure like yeah nothing's
going on yep i kid you not that afternoon she
was like oh i can pull myself up now i can do
it so she just needed to hear that she's supposed
to be doing this i guess we like well now i gotta
call the doctor yeah i was like do i take a video
and send this to him and like so this literally
just happened yeah but anyways yeah she's just
learning all the things like yeah so i think
that's what's causing it but it's also any sleep
regressions that's affecting like literally everything
it's so terrible she's fighting naps and then
she takes short naps it's like the other day
it took me half an hour to get her down for a
nap that lasted half an hour and then i like
couldn't get her back to sleep so it's like that
That almost felt worthless. Yes. And then since
her and Lloyd share a room frequently, she's
waking him up from naps. So then everyone's overtired
and mad. She is fighting bedtime. She's waking
up more at night. Frequently at night. Not every
time. But when she wakes up, she's also having
a harder time going back down. It's not just
like, okay, nurse, and then back to sleep. Because
that, like... I don't like waking up multiple
times a night, but if that's the case, like,
I can deal. It's the, like, trying to get her
back to sleep when she's, like, doesn't want
to. Yeah. She's waking up at 6 a .m. pretty much
every single day. Yeah. Which means I have, like,
most days the kids wake. up at like 7 or 7 30
and I wake up at like 6 or 6 30 so then I have
like a couple minutes a little bit of time like
especially on a work day yeah like to just like
get my day started get my work day started have
like 30 seconds to just like breathe and like
prepare but it's like nope I'm like in my pajamas
I'm not even haven't even brushed my teeth and
she's wide awake and I'm trying to get her up
so she doesn't wake Lloyd up so that way hopefully
only one kid's overtired instead of two that's
so tough with the sharing the room Like that's
such a beneficial thing. I think you'll see in
like a year from now. And when it's going, like
for them sharing a room, when it goes well, it
goes really well. Like they seem to like sharing
a room. And I think it does generally help her
sleep, help both of them sleep better to like
be close to their sibling. But it's just when
one of them wakes up upset, it wakes up the other
one and then it's a disaster. it's just it's
a rough super fun hopefully it will be a quick
sleep regression and yeah you guys can get back
to sleep yeah and also i don't get naps no that's
the hardest part like if i could take naps then
maybe it'd be okay but then and then i always
feel super guilty when i'm frustrated that she
won't sleep yeah i'm like i just need like i
need to catch up on my emails uh -huh i know
that's so tough it's like you're literally holding
a baby and typing emails with one hand yep i've
done that many times yeah and i'm like i could
type this so much faster if i could just set
you down for a second yep ah these are the good
old days we're gonna miss them yeah okay so um
this is our fun christmas episode yeah um talking
about christmas traditions what are some like
maybe traditions that you grew up with that you
want to implement into into your kids childhood
So we always decorated for Christmas on Black
Friday. Fun. And that's something that we're
going to continue. And I know I always felt like
it was such a fun day decorating for Christmas.
Did you guys do anything else along with it?
Like Christmas music in the background? Yeah.
So it was like the first day we'd do Christmas
music. And we had speakers. We had like a living
room and a family room. And we had speakers in
both so we could play music throughout the whole
house. Which also I feel like makes it sound
like I grew up super rich for that being like
the 90s. But that's not the case. But the speakers
could play the same song. So yeah, we would like
put on Christmas music throughout the house.
And then since we had two living spaces, we also
had two trees. So we had one that was like, we
called it my mom's tree. But that was because
that's where like all the breakable ornaments
pretty much went. And it was like white lights
and... Kind of like the prettier tree, I guess.
And then the one in the living room was like
the family tree. So it was colored lights and
it was all the ornaments. All the kids ornaments.
Yeah. All the like, you know, the ones that you
make and the ones that we get every year that
are like kind of funny. And that's where the
presents would end up too. Nice. But yeah, I
remember decorating for Christmas just being
like. an event and so fun um and so i want that
to be a thing right now it's i feel like the
first few years it's just kind of stressful because
it's just like stewart and i while also trying
to manage kids yes um like maybe when they're
like three four yeah like the traditions will
kind of like yeah they like start to care about
these yeah yeah so that's like a big one for
us or like one of the things that i remember
most i guess is like yep that was super fun yeah
And that's something I definitely want to continue
is like, I love that. What about you guys? So
one that I grew up with, I think I've talked
about it before. So we would always all sleep
in the same room on Christmas Eve. I don't think
we're going to do that this year. I still feel
like my kids are too young to really do that.
But as they get older, I love this idea because
it was like, in my parents' mind, it was we all
had to stay in the same room because. because
they didn't want us to go out of the room early
and open up all the gifts. And that was like
the idea behind it. But it was really like just
a special, like we all got to sleep in the same
room and we were all excited for Santa to come.
I feel like there's so many traditions that like
as a parent, like as a kid, you're like, oh my
gosh, this is so fun. And then now as a parent,
I'm like, oh, I see. There was actually a hidden
message in this. Pizza Friday was because you
couldn't manage to think or cook. Yeah. Got it.
That wasn't just a fun tradition. Yes. Yeah.
But then as a kid, you're like, this was so,
so special. It really was. And each year, so
it was. Me and I have three siblings, but we
would trade off who got to sleep in my parents'
bed. So it was me and my sister one year, and
then my brothers would be on the ground, and
then the opposite year we would flip, and then
it would be my brothers. And then my mom and
my stepdad would basically just guard the bedroom
door so they'd be on the ground just making sure
we didn't go out. So that was always super fun.
And then another thing we did, so we would always
do like cookie decorating. And we still do this
like as a big family. But we would, yeah, do
cookie decorating. And we would, honestly, we
would probably do it like two weeks before Christmas.
I know. And like all the frosting and everything.
And then those were the cookies we'd leave out
for Santa. Okay. Which. It's so gross because
those cookies were probably so stale by then.
But it's fun because last year was like the first
year that Colt got to do that with us as a family.
And now when we go back to California again for
Christmas, we'll get to do that all as a family
again. And that's just, it's super fun to see
him like, I don't know, start to pick up on these
traditions a little bit. The last few years,
this isn't like an old tradition, but. my mom,
my mother -in -law, me and my sister -in -law
have gotten together and we don't decorate cookies,
but we all like come with our own cookie dough.
And so we like tell each other what we're going
to make. So we don't have all the same cookies.
And it's like, someone makes like peppermint
chip cookies and someone makes sugar cookies
or whatever. Um, and then we all just like get
together and bake them. That's fun. So it's not
decorating, but it's kind of just like, and then
we like trade cookies. So we all have like a
little bit of each kind. Yes. So that's fun.
That's super fun. Yeah, I am excited. I'm really
excited because I feel like this year, like,
Cole is kind of, like, starting to catch on.
Like, oh, Christmas. Like, we just decorated
for Christmas. We're recording this a little
bit early. But, yeah, we just decorated for Christmas.
And, like, he walked down the stairs one morning
and it was all decorated because I did it at
night. And he was like, Christmas. And I was
like, oh. this year's gonna be so fun like doing
like i want to go um look at christmas sites
yeah maybe do like um in denver they have like
a polar express train that you can like go on
and like experience the polar express and i'm
like maybe we'll do that like i'm just excited
to do the christmas activities and like i think
it will be so much more fun to kind of like view
it from like the lens like through his eyes and
like we get to make it magical for them. Yeah.
So fun. That is so fun. Like what was the thing
we said today? He was like, Oh, he was like having
a tantrum in the store. And, um, so we like went
out to the car and then he has like this play
phone and Michael like pretended to call someone
and was like, Oh hello Santa. Oh yeah. Colt's
on the naughty list right now. And I was like,
Oh my gosh, this is. This is fun for me to like
start to, I don't know, see Christmas in a different
light with kids now again. Yeah. Do you have
any traditions that you like want to start or
like maybe you've already kind of started? No,
I don't think we've necessarily started anything.
I think it's harder because there's so many like
things that my family would do like either the
night. you know day before christmas or day of
christmas and now like we're pretty much we go
and we travel for so we're like we're with our
families but we're not doing like necessarily
christmas with just like the four of us um we
probably will do something like a few days before
we travel out but yeah i i honestly haven't thought
that one through a lot of what i want to start
but i think we will as as time goes on Yeah.
What about you guys? So we do matching pajamas.
Oh, yes. Okay. Yeah. Which also Old Navy is the
only place to go for that. Yeah. Partially because
every other time I've looked someplace in the
Old Navy for like one pair of pajamas, it's the
same price as getting the whole family's pajamas.
Yeah. Like I can get everyone's pajamas for like
40 bucks or something like that. And then it's
like 70 or something. Why is it $75 for a pair
of pajamas, a pair of baby pajamas? So that's
a fun one. And then we actually do Christmas
early. So for us, and this started before we
had kids, our families get together on Christmas.
Like my parents and Stuart's parents usually
get together on Christmas. And we also like split.
So it's like. Christmas day we spend the morning
with my parents usually sometime in the afternoon
with Stuart's family and then the evening everyone
gets together for dinner oh nice and we love
that and it's super fun but we're like we also
want to do something just our family so what
we started doing is starting is we do Christmas
the day before so it's like oh nice the 23rd
is like our Christmas Eve where we open pajamas
and like maybe watch a movie or something and
then the 24th we like like get up and do the
whole Christmas thing with presents and some
kind of sugary breakfast. Like last year we did
cinnamon rolls. My mom usually makes monkey bread.
So that's one of the things that we've done is
like, okay, we know that Christmas day is going
to be crazy and we're going to be seeing lots
of family. So we're going to like carve out this
time for just you guys. Yeah. Where it's less
rushed and we can just like have fun and play
with new toys and stuff like that. That's so
special. One of my favorite things was, like,
the slow mornings at home. Like, after presents
were opened. Yeah. Everyone's in a little bit
of a sugar coma. Yeah. And we were all just,
like, as kids, we were just, like, playing with
the new toys. And, like, we were all playing
with different things. And that just was so fun.
The hard part for us, like, that we're still
trying to navigate is both Michael and I work
in the church. Right. And so, like, Christmas
Eve services. are a big thing. And so like this,
this year we have six Christmas Eve services.
They're not on Christmas Eve, but they're the
weekend before Christmas. Yeah. And so like.
that is just a super busy season. And I feel
like we can't be as present with our family.
Like it's, we're present with our family, but
we're at church and like our kids are in kids'
men for six services. Like it's crazy. It's crazy.
And so I really, I do need to look at the calendar
cause it is so special. Like just having the,
that like Christmas morning experience with just
like just us. And I, I want to carve out that
time. Yeah. Like last year you left Christmas
services to get on a plane. Yes. Yes. Yeah. So
you're probably doing something similar. Yeah.
Thankfully we're like, so Christmas Eve services
are on the 19th, 20th and 21st this year. And
then we are flying out the 22nd. Okay. So Monday,
but I'm like, okay, we could do Christmas on
like the. 18th or something like that but that
feels so like that's like a week yeah yeah and
so i don't know we'll or you can do it you could
do like three kings day what's that it's january
6th it's a pretty traditional thing in like catholic
culture so it's supposedly like the day that
the wise men showed up to jesus or something
okay yeah yeah um i think it's where the tradition
they actually didn't travel there in a day it
took them yeah yeah so it's supposed to be like
kind of celebrating that and i know in places
like italy where there's a very like high catholic
catholicism is very impactful in the culture
yeah like everything shuts down yeah but people
like this is one thing about america is like
it's like christmas is the 25th and then it's
gone kind of where i know in a lot of places
in europe specifically christmas is celebrated
until three kings oh wow yeah and yeah so you
can do like that that's fun i know yeah because
i'm like the thing is is With us living in a
different state, a lot of family will, like,
mail us presents for the boys. Right. And so,
like, I already have, like, a hidden pile somewhere
of presents that I need to wrap. And I don't
know. Yeah, I don't know how we're going to do
it exactly. But we do, like, we'll do the matching
pajamas, but we do that in California. The other
thing that's super fun that Michael's family
grew up doing that now we. do all together is
pizza and elf so we we all get matching pajamas
so the entire family has matching pajamas we
eat pizza and we watch elf and that's like the
extent of it and it's so fun everyone looks forward
to every year and that was like a youth group
event that michael grew up doing and then they
would like pause the movie halfway through and
eat the spaghetti that buddy eats with all the
candy and yuckiness, which it's not surprisingly
not as terrible as you would think. It's just
like, it's just, yeah, it's plain noodles and
then just like chocolate syrup. Yeah. Marshmallows,
M &M's, blah, blah, blah. And so he grew up doing
that event. And then I think his family just
like kind of started doing it too. And so that's
a fun thing that fun tradition that will continue
on. One that I've seen that. I think we're going
to start it this year is called Christmas Eve
boxes where you just wrap like, so we'll do pajamas
this year. We'll each kid will get a like Christmas
book. So we have the Grinch for Lloyd and then
good night Christmas for Zeta. And then some
of the other things I've seen as like ideas for
Christmas Eve boxes is like. a movie to watch
as a family and like a special snack or something
like that. So that's like something to do on
Christmas Eve. I love that. Um, since we don't
really do a ton of movies with the kids yet,
we'll probably won't do that this year. Um, but
like in the future, I'm sure we'll do something
like that. Um, so they have something to open
on Christmas Eve and then they can, you know,
open their pajamas and put them on. And then
we have, we'll have special books to read. Yeah.
That's really, I think we're going to start doing
that this year. Cause yeah, I think. you already
mentioned this with Cole or like this is the
first year I think Lloyd understands what's going
on. Like last year he was happy to be around
his family. Yeah. And he was like definitely
excited about his new toys, but not in the same
way that he will be this year. Maybe a little
more overstimulated than anything. Exactly. Yeah.
Yeah. I am. I don't know entirely how we're going
to do this, but I, I think being a Christian,
like Jesus is obviously. the reason for christmas
like the birth of jesus and i want to make sure
that my kids grew up like focusing on that rather
than the presence and like yes the presence and
the family time is also great and important why
do we do that but why are we why are we here
why like what is the what is the reason for the
season yeah but yeah i think like just like verbalizing
it more often and making sure that my kids know
that and know why we are celebrating is really
important. Um, I've seen families do like birthday
cakes for Jesus on Christmas. I think that's
really cute. Yeah. Yeah. Um, this is like kind
of, it's controversial for some people. I think
we're not doing Santa and it was a little bit
of a debate between Stuart and I and partially
cause like we had The reason he wanted to do
Santa, I didn't. The reasons he wanted to and
the reasons I didn't, we could, like, kind of
figure out how to make it work. Yeah. So far,
we're kind of like, we're just not going to do
it. So for Stuart, he's like, I don't want our
kids to be the kid that ruins it for other people.
Yeah. Like, that's totally fair. That's true.
So we're still trying to figure out how to navigate
that. But also, like, I have a friend who grew
up and they didn't do Santa. And she was like,
no, it was literally like. The whole thing is
like, you know, Santa and Satan have the same
letters, like that extreme. And I'm like, no,
no, no, we're not doing that. Like for us, I
think we're going to be like, Santa's a character.
Like we watch the Santa Claus and we watch Elf
and we, you know, well, like he's a character
and some people pretend he's real and that's
okay. Yeah. So I think we're going to try to
like go that route and be like, hey. People pretend
he's real, and that's totally fine if they do.
And then the other thing for Stuart is, like,
I want Christmas to be magical. Yeah. And that's
one thing I remember as a kid is coming down,
like, going up to bed on Christmas Eve, and there
was, like, some presents under the tree. And
it was, like, presents I wrapped and, like, you
know, presents for Grandma and Grandpa or whatever.
And then coming down, and it felt like there
was just a thousand presents. Yes. You know,
not that there always was. um but but in your
head you went to bed with just very little and
then wake up with yeah so i think so much more
even though we're not doing like the traditional
santa thing that's one thing we're also doing
this year is we're not going to put any of their
presents under the tree until like our christmas
eve and they go to bed so then when lloyd comes
downstairs it's like a magical experience where
did all these things come from that's so fun
um but then yeah so for the reasons not to do
santa for me A big part of it is I'm like, I
want to focus on like Jesus is more important
than Santa. I've also heard lots of horror stories
of people finding out Santa isn't real. And then
this is like, I don't know if this is a weird
one or not, but no offense to anyone who does
Elf on the Shelf. I know lots of people do Elf
on the Shelf. I can't, I can't do it. I think
Elf on the Shelf is super creepy. Yeah. I have
friends who like their family gets so much joy
from it. If your family gets joy from it, I'm
so happy for you. It just seems like a lot of
work. It seems like a lot of work. The doll itself,
honestly, I think is super creepy. Have you seen
Snoop on a stoop, though? Yes, that's really
funny. Snoop Dogg, everybody. Yes. But the other
part of it for me is gifts aren't earned. That's
a reward. Rewards are great, but they're their
own thing. So I'm like, I want to try really
hard that, like. Gifts are something special
that you're given just because of who you are.
Yeah. Not because you were a good kid or not.
And again, like going back to the Jesus piece
of it is like, that's why we have Jesus. Like
we didn't do anything. He came just because of
who we are. And again, rewards are great. Like
there's time and place for rewards. But yeah,
so I'm like, I don't want to treat Christmas
gifts like a reward. Yeah. And I know that also
puts a lot of burden on me. Because it is like
super easy to be like, we're canceling Christmas
when someone's not behaving. Yeah. So I'm like,
I do know that like this is easier said than
done to be like, I have to also actually go with
it and be like, okay, we're not threatening taking
away Christmas because that's not how this works.
But I want them to know like the true meaning
of gifts of like if someone gives you a gift,
like honestly, you don't have to give anything
in return. Like you should be grateful. You should
say thank you. But like. gifts are freely given
and anyone who's like, I gave that to you and
then they're expecting something in return. That's
not a gift. That's not how that works. Yeah.
That's a really good perspective. So I just,
I remember, so my family, um, was very, very,
very big into Santa, at least my mom and stepdad
and all of our, we would come out in the morning
and all of the Santa gifts would be like, they
would not be wrapped. So you knew that it was
from Santa. And so it was usually the bigger
things. So like a bike or a guitar or, you know,
but I just, I remember like you have to be so
selfless almost in a sense of like knowing that
your kids are not going to thank you for the
gift. That is true. Yeah. And I like after, you
know, when I found out Santa wasn't real, I cried.
Do you remember how it went down? Yeah. I remember
asking like. All of my siblings are older, so
I remember asking them – or not asking them.
They all knew that he was not real, and they
were told to, like, keep pretending for me, for
my sake. And I remember, like, it was for a while
that I was like, oh, I don't think Santa's real.
But I was like too afraid to ask because I didn't
want to find out the truth because I felt like
it would ruin the magic for me. Yeah. But I remember
like laying, I was laying in my bed and my mom
was like tucking me in one night or something.
And I was like, mom, is Santa real? She's like,
honey. and then like tells me and then i just
remember crying oh and it was like such a sad
thing oh i don't want to say i think this was
last year yeah i think it was like 10 okay or
something like that i feel like that's not super
crazy no okay but i'm pretty sure i was like
the last of all my friends okay like i knew it
but i didn't like i didn't say it yeah you know
like i didn't i feel i didn't want to admit it
i feel like that's really common yeah it's like
kids start to realize the truth and then they're
like, I either want to hold on to it or I know
a lot of kids are like, the magic goes away if
I stop believing or the presents go away if I
stop believing or whatever. Yeah. And so I think
that it's funny because, I mean, everything would
be labeled like from Santa to Laura, but it was
my mom's handwriting, like very clearly. But
I never was like. I knew it, but I was like,
I'm not going to, I don't want to say anything
because I also don't want my Santa gifts to go
away. Exactly. Yeah. So I don't know. It'll be
interesting how we incorporate because I do think
we will do Santa. We haven't, like, I mean, we
talked about Santa with Colt. I talked about
the, he's on the naughty list right now. But
like, I mean, he's got, it's still not working,
you know, like. I mean, at this age, they don't
really care anyways. And so I think this Christmas,
I don't know if we'll do like Santa gifts. Yeah.
This Christmas. When I think like where I'm at
too is like, again, we'll be like, hey, this
is a character. And then if in like a few years
they're like, we also want to pretend Santa is
real, then we can go from that. Yeah. You know,
where it's like, I don't want it to be this thing
where it's like, yeah, where it's like if they
want to pretend and we like make it a thing.
Yeah. Then. Then I'm down with that. Then that's
fun. Yeah, I think the most important part for
us is, like, it's supposed to be a fun thing.
Yeah. And, yeah, ultimately, like, Jesus is the
reason we're celebrating. And I want to add more,
like, emphasis on Jesus than Santa. Yeah. And
I don't know what that looks like yet other than
just, like, verbalizing, like, you know. This
is, you know, this is why we're here. We spent
a thousand hours at church this weekend. Because
we're celebrating the birth of Jesus. And yeah,
so I think it's going to be interesting how we
incorporate that as we continue living farther
away from family. Because right now Christmas
just feels so busy. Yeah. And it's like we're
hopping around to all different houses. Everyone
wants to see us, which is so, so great, but also
it does not feel like a quiet season for us right
now. What other things do you want to add or
put into practice? One of the things that I saw
for getting presents for kids, kind of a philosophy,
I guess, is getting something they want, something
they need, something to wear, and something to
read. I've seen that, too. That's cool. I like
that mostly because I think it helps me like
kind of reel it in. Like it's super easy to try
to find like a million different things. So I
think we're going to try to start doing that
a little bit more. What is it? Want, need, wear,
read. Oh, that's cool. So we've already gotten
them a bunch of books for us. We're like books
are always fair game. Yeah. And then. We have
other friends who do it and they're like, the
way we also do it is like for something to wear.
It might be something like. that we wouldn't
normally buy them like it's more expensive or
fancier you know something like that and then
same with the need where it's like we're not
just like buying you your toothbrush you know
it's like something that like you do legitimately
need but maybe it's like a little bit more expensive
like the nicer version of what you want you know
yeah it's a bike and it's a nicer bike or you
know something like that that's good um like
which i like to like still kind of keep it magical
and fun and again not turning into the thing
where it's like oh everything we buy for you
right now is a Christmas present. Well, I feel
like too, like at least for the boys, they're
getting so many toys, so many things from grandparents
and aunts and uncles. And it's just so overstimulating
already. Like they don't need more toys from,
from us. It's yeah. I'm, I want to focus more
on like the, okay, what do you need for your
room? Like this year we put Colt in a big boy
bed, but we still need a bed frame. So that's
going to be his big Christmas gift is his bed
frame. And so like things like that, like the,
that fall under that category. We have tried
really hard to limit toys from family. It worked
better. How did you, how did you do that? So
it worked better when we were in a small apartment.
Cause we could be like, we literally don't have
space. Yeah. And our house still isn't very big.
So we still try to be like, Hey guys, like we
actually do have limited space. And so we don't
want a ton of toys. Thankfully our family has
just like. been fairly respectful from the get
-go of like hey we're kind of being picky about
our toys the things that i have found have been
helpful one have a few things that are fair game
so like we've told our family clothes and books
you can never buy us enough yeah like we might
tell you hey don't buy any more clothes in this
size you know buy the next size up or something
like that yeah but kids are always growing kids
always need more clothes they're always getting
stains on clothes you know like close her for
a game and then books like I mean if you go upstairs
we have so many stacks of books in our house
right now and it's a little bit crazy yeah but
Lloyd loves them and like that's something that's
super important to us is you know reading and
it's really fun so yeah those are the two things
that we've been like hey like kind of no restrictions
on yeah and if it's something that like I mean
I'm not really worried with our family but if
it was like someone got us a book that we thought
was like kind of weird and we're not going to
read that to our kid I feel less bad about, like,
disappearing it. Because it's like, oh, you spent,
like, $7 on this book. Whereas toys get so expensive.
Oh, gosh, yeah. So that's been one big thing.
The other thing is people ask us what they want.
And so I have Amazon lists for both kids that
throughout the year I put stuff on. That's smart.
And then you send the link out. And then I just
send the link out. So that way it's kind of like,
here are, like, pre -approved toys. Yeah. Like,
I hate being like, we want to approve. toys yeah
but also it's gonna be in my house yes the toys
that we've been okay with people buying are the
Montessori yes toys we've kind of said that like
anything Montessori for the most part we're okay
with yeah yeah it's really just some of those
Montessori toys have really tiny pieces to it
some of them do yeah yeah which I'm surprised
with but so yeah those are kind of some limits
and then I also think we're lucky with our family
because I know some people are like I could give
my parents all those. My mom goes to town on
the toys. Yeah. Yeah. And now we're traveling
back with like, we usually bring an extra suitcase
at Christmas. Just for. Yeah, just for gifts
because otherwise we can't bring it home. But.
Yeah. That is the other side of it too is like,
yeah, I've had our family ask like, okay, what
do the boys need for Christmas? And I really,
I am trying to answer like. you know clothes
shoes are a big one and books but i'm like it's
so hard to travel gift cards are great for us
yeah amazon is really great target walmart yeah
the amazon list thing has helped me so much yeah
that's good yeah anytime someone asks me i'm
like even if i have like specific ideas in mind
i forget every single thing that yeah and either
of my kids have ever shown interest in for sure
and since we don't just like buy them toys all
the time then i'll be like oh this is something
that i noticed like We were at a friend's house
or something like that. And they showed interest
in. So, you know, maybe something like this.
Yeah. It's so hard with toys too when they're
so young. It's like they're going to pay attention
to it for like 2 .5 seconds and then move on.
It's hard to justify like, oh, you're going to
spend $40 on this toy that they're going to look
at for maybe a day. Yeah. So we've tried to be
intentional about that too. Like, okay, what
are things that like have shown a continued interest?
Like Lloyd, his two presents this year. Last
year, Stuart made him a Montessori arch for climbing.
The coolest thing ever. This year, he's making
a slide to go onto it. So fun. We're like, this
boy would go down slides all day long. All day
long. So hopefully he really, really loves it.
And then. He's continued to show interest in
construction vehicles. So we got him like one
of those sets of a bunch of construction vehicles.
Cool. That hopefully he'll definitely love it.
So you're on top of it. You're already shopping.
I mean, sort of Christmas shopping. I mean, Stuart
already came up with that. Yeah. I did buy a
bunch of books, but they were on sale. Nice.
Yeah. And then I have no idea what to get Zeta.
Yeah. That's hard. The babies are the hard ones.
It's so hard. It's like clothes and like things
to chew on. Yeah. I'm like, do I just get her
like one of those? door stoppers that goes that's
all she wants to play with honestly i i'm pretty
sure when colt was for at least his first christmas
he was like four months old i don't even think
we bought him anything to be honest what for
lloyd's first christmas we got uh like a splat
mat so like one of those things that you put
under yeah uh the high chair yeah i'm one of
those And there were like a few things in that
same vein where it's like, this is just something
that you need anyway. So you're going to unwrap
it. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. I think for Colt this year,
my mom is getting him. He's really obsessed with
our car keys and like trying to, but he tries
to unlock our front door with the car key. Oh,
okay. And so my mom bought him like one of the
Montessori like. locks and keys so it comes with
like eight different keys and eight different
locks and then nick can like try them all oh
that's and i'm like hopefully that will keep
him entertained for yeah a while he like yeah
if he if there's a toy like that it can usually
keep him entertained the one thing so we we decorated
for christmas i got like those little um stickies
for the windows that oh yeah like merry christmas
the like jelly ones yeah the jelly ones and um
i put it up on the window yesterday and I mean,
he does not know how to spell Merry Christmas,
but he loves just, he moves it from one window
to the next and he's like good for like 30 minutes.
There are some of those activities that you're
like. It was literally $1 .50 at Hobby Lobby.
Yep. I was like, sick. That was the best purchase
of my life. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes that's the
move. Yeah. It'll be fun to, I don't know, with
a two -year -old this year, it'll be fun to.
Yeah. see christmas and through his eyes and
oh one thing i think we're gonna do this year
is have lloyd pick out a gift for zeta so like
one of us will take him shopping and just like
what do you want to get yeah what do you want
to get zeta do you think he's gonna pick something
that he likes i don't know it'll be interesting
to see if he's like she's gonna want this construction
vehicle right which also we've kind of talked
about it we're like i think we need to get zeta
a toy car because she wants whatever lloyd has
yeah and we're trying to like find the balance
of letting lloyd have his own stuff and like
hey you don't have to share this but you also
have to be nice and yes and all the cars in our
house have been gifted to him in some capacity
so i'm like i it's fair that you don't want to
share that yeah but you have to get Zeta something
so I'm kind of thinking we're like we need to
have a toy that we're like yeah a toy car that
we're like this is Zeta's toy car you can't take
it from her like maybe I'm just setting myself
up for absolute disaster but if it's one he really
likes yeah maybe one he already has or something
like that I don't know like a duplicate um yeah
so that way we can be like this is Zeta's car
like Then when she has Lightning McQueen and
you want Lightning McQueen back, you're like,
okay, go get Zeta's car and get back. And trade.
And trade, yeah. Yeah. But, yeah, I don't know
because consistently if she has something in
the house that he wants and he wants to take
it back, then we'll be like, okay, can you find
something for her to play with? And sometimes
he shares one of his toys, which is really sweet.
Yeah. And sometimes he hands her like a wooden
spoon. Yeah. Which I'm like, she doesn't care.
She's still happy. Yeah. So. Yeah, so I don't
know if he'll find something. That'll be interesting.
You'll have to report back on that. Yeah, we
definitely will. Yeah, yeah. I love that idea.
I think I might try to do that, and then we'll
just order something for Cruz to give to Colt
or something like that. That's fun. I'd love
if you guys could share your traditions with
us and let us know what you guys do. I love hearing
the weird, obscure traditions that people...
I can't even think of one right now, but... I
know our weird family... It's not like the Simpson
one, but my parents, the Sowilla one. So they
have this set of mugs that are Next Computer
branded, which no one knows what Next Computer
is because it was... in existence for like two
years in the 90s and it was when steve jobs got
fired from apple he started next computer and
my dad went to the factory or facility or something
like that at one point time and they had a bunch
of merch so he had he got next computer mugs
and for some reason those are our christmas mugs
that's don't know why they're not there's just
like enough for everybody to use no there's only
four Yeah. They're not Christmas branded in any
capacity. But you, is that the only time you
guys use them? Yeah. That's great. Do they live
with the Christmas decorations? That's amazing.
I love that so much. And we drink eggnog out
of them. So I don't know where this came from.
Oh, I love that. So that's our like weird family
tradition. I don't think we have. Oh, other than
on Christmas day, we always eat sandwiches for
lunch. That's a good move though. Yeah. But it's
like. really intricate sandwiches so like we
get like fancy meats and like we have all the
different spreads and like all the different
cheeses great bread like i love it just it's
not just the traditional like i don't know so
that's fun but all right well yeah let us know
what your guys traditions are and what you guys
are thinking for christmas yeah do we want to
hop into our wins of the week yeah Okay. I can
go first. Okay. So we had just like a little
date night last night, which meant that my mom
put Zeta down for bed. And I think this is the
first time she's been put down for bed without
Stuart or either. That's awesome. We've had one
or the other, but not without both of us. And
I know it was a little bit of a rough go, but
she was asleep when we got home. And then she
also slept way better last night. I shouldn't
say this. yeah then she has all week but then
when we woke up she was just so snuggly yeah
so sweet it was like kind of clear that she missed
us and like it's like i've been gone for so long
yeah i won't do that again yeah she just like
kept putting her head on like our chests and
was so happy that we were home and that's the
best just so sweet that's cute that's cute um
okay my win very short and simple. So Cruz started
saying Dada. But I'm mad he didn't say Mama.
Of course. Of course. Colt said Mama first. But
it's more just like, I don't think he knows what
he's saying, but it's like the Dada, Dada, Dada,
Dada. And Michael's like, I'll take it. He said
it. He's looking at me. He said it. And it's
just really cute. And I can't believe we're already
at that phase. I know. It's going so fast. I
showed Zeta a picture of Stuart while he was
at work and I was like, who's that? He said Dada.
And then... I got her to do it a second time.
Never again. Yeah. He comes home. I'm like, Zeta,
who's that? She's going to be stubborn. Yep.
Love it. I'll show her another picture. Nothing.
But I was like, I swear this happened. No one
else witnessed it, but I swear it happened. I'm
not delusional. Or maybe I am. I don't know.
I don't know. Well, thanks for tuning in, guys.
Hope you guys have a great Christmas with your
families. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. I hope
that your kids, yeah, just have a magical Christmas
season. Yeah. Merry Christmas. Thanks for listening.
We'll see you next week. Like, not next week.
Oh, nope. We'll see you in three weeks. Three
weeks. Bye. Bye. Well, that's enough oversharing
for today. If you enjoyed hanging out with us,
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